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Clashing in Cleveland: How Hue Jackson, Jimmy Haslam and Baker Mayfield collided (and how they almost hired Sean McDermott)


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Posted (edited)

 

Details the last 6 years of Haslam ownership. It’s fascinating. 

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25797430/inside-cleveland-browns-front-office-where-hope-history-collide

My look inside the dysfunction that has defined the Browns—from Hue telling Haslam to get “the f— out of my office,” to Haslam nicknaming Sashi Brown “Obama,” to porn accidentally projecting in the facility—and if it’ll redefine what Mayfield can transcend

Edited by YoloinOhio
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Posted (edited)
Quote

 


A few days after promoting Brown, the team set out to find a new coach. They had spent hours trying to identify the ideal traits of successful coaches, whiteboarding, crunching statistics and debating candidate strengths and weaknesses. Many executives later described the meetings to associates as among the most inspiring and memorable of their Browns careers. Haslam would eat hard-boiled eggs and leave shell shards on the floor while firing off incisive questions and offering thoughtful opinions. He was known to occasionally doze off in long group meetings, but in these gatherings he was energized and engaged, stewarding the plan, leading discussions and then telling everyone to sleep on it before diving back in the next day. The ambition was contagious. The Browns felt they were building something special.

Until it was time to commit to a coach.

After a few rounds of interviews, the brass voted. It was 4-1 in favor of Sean McDermott, the Panthers' defensive coordinator, a coach who had crushed his interview and was known to be open to new ideas.

Haslam voted for Hue Jackson, the former Raiders head coach and then-Bengals offensive coordinator. Jackson was a respected playcaller and teacher, especially with quarterbacks. Haslam told the group he felt Jackson could relate better to players. Jackson knew how hard it was to get a second chance as a head coach, and he was nervous about the rebuilding plan. He would later tell friends the team undersold him on the extremeness of the rebuilding plan, a charge that Browns executives found absurd, given the level of detail shared during the interview process.

DePodesta wrote Haslam an email arguing that the Jackson hire went against many of the characteristics of successful coaches they had discussed. Brown met with Haslam -- there's always a race to be the last one to talk to Haslam before a big decision -- and told him he thought hiring Jackson would be a bad call. "I hear you," Haslam said.

Then Haslam flew to Cincinnati and hired Jackson, who would report directly to ownership.

In a span of 10 days, Haslam had fully committed to two opposing football philosophies, and whether he intended to or not, he had set himself up as the arbiter of future conflicts.

 

Thank Goodness for Haslam or we wouldn’t have McDermott

Edited by YoloinOhio
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Posted

"DePodesta wrote Haslam an email arguing that the Jackson hire went against many of the characteristics of successful coaches they had discussed. Brown met with Haslam -- there's always a race to be the last one to talk to Haslam before a big decision -- and told him he thought hiring Jackson would be a bad call. "I hear you," Haslam said."

 

In any field, a sign of a bad owner or manager is to go out of your way to hire intelligent people and then prevent them from doing the job you're paying them to do.  

 

 

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Posted (edited)

"He would later tell friends the team undersold him on the extremeness of the rebuilding plan, a charge that Browns executives found absurd, given the level of detail shared during the interview process."

 

Jackson is the absolute worst.  This guy has blamed everyone everywhere for his singular awfulness.  Haslam is a complete moron hiring this guy when his entire staff said it was a mistake....a predictable disaster.

Edited by Mr. WEO
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2 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

"He would later tell friends the team undersold him on the extremeness of the rebuilding plan, a charge that Browns executives found absurd, given the level of detail shared during the interview process."

 

Jackson is the absolute worst.  This guy has blamed everyone everywhere for his singular awfulness.  Haslam is a complete moron hiring this guy when his entire staff said it was a mistake....a predictable disaster.

I like how Haslam hired the analytics guy and then completely ignored his analytics-based recommendations. Depodesta must be making a pile of cash to not have quit yet 

Edited by YoloinOhio
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Good news for Browns fans is they're going to be a major player in the AFC for the next decade. I thought they were a playoff team last year if Hue wasn't the coach and Baker was starting. I expect them to win their division next year.

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Posted
5 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I like how Haslam hired the analytics guy and then completely ignored his analytics-based recommendations. Depodesta must be making a pile of cash to not have quit yet 

 

 

Depodesta is lucky to have any job.  His first job as GM in MLB lasted just 2 years with the Dodgers, where he was mocked as "Google Boy". 

 

Het got to a Mets team that would be in the NLCS that year, then it was a steady slide to years of wins in the 70's before they peaked in the WS the year before he left.  The team then crashed and burned again.

 

Luckily for the Browns.  Mayfield was a pick that even that crew and owner could not screw up.

Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, FeelingOnYouboty said:

Good news for Browns fans is they're going to be a major player in the AFC for the next decade. I thought they were a playoff team last year if Hue wasn't the coach and Baker was starting. I expect them to win their division next year.

Mayfield has been good, but letting him choose the HC may have been a little premature (i like Kitchens btw, just saying the process raised some eyebrows). Depodesta wanted Stefanski.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/Article/Baker-Mayfield-Browns-head-coach-Kevin-Stefanski-Freddie-Kitchens-127644466/Amp/

Edited by YoloinOhio
Posted
5 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Mayfield has been good, but letting him choose the HC may have been a little premature (i like Kitchens btw, just saying the process raised some eyebrows). Depodesta wanted Stefanski.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/Article/Baker-Mayfield-Browns-head-coach-Kevin-Stefanski-Freddie-Kitchens-127644466/Amp/

 

Browns are gonna Brown, as long as Haslem reigns.

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Posted
1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

Details the last 6 years of Haslam ownership. It’s fascinating. 

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25797430/inside-cleveland-browns-front-office-where-hope-history-collide

My look inside the dysfunction that has defined the Browns—from Hue telling Haslam to get “the f— out of my office,” to Haslam nicknaming Sashi Brown “Obama,” to porn accidentally projecting in the facility—and if it’ll redefine what Mayfield can transcend

Whaley was there too?

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Posted
1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

Details the last 6 years of Haslam ownership. It’s fascinating. 

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25797430/inside-cleveland-browns-front-office-where-hope-history-collide

My look inside the dysfunction that has defined the Browns—from Hue telling Haslam to get “the f— out of my office,” to Haslam nicknaming Sashi Brown “Obama,” to porn accidentally projecting in the facility—and if it’ll redefine what Mayfield can transcend

 

Wow.  Thanks for this, Yolo.

 

Posted
1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

Thank Goodness for Haslam or we wouldn’t have McDermott

 

Would McD have picked Cleveland over Buffalo?  I have my doubts about that one.

Posted

The Browns used to be the cream of the NFL crop when they first entered the league...what a disaster for the most part since then! 

 

The Browns won a championship in their inaugural NFL season, as well as in the 1954, 1955, and 1964 seasons, and in a feat unequaled in any of the North American major professional sports, played in their league championship game in each of the Browns' first ten years of existence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Browns

 

I suppose we don't have a whole lot of room talk with the drought and all, but still, they have taken awfulness to a record setting level of their own. Of course, their future looks very bright, so there's that. 

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